


Run Boy Run (this world is not meant for you)

by SnowWolf5552 (orphan_account)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Semi Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-25 17:18:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9833114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/SnowWolf5552
Summary: A young woman from our Earth dies. In a quirk of fate (or something else), she's reborn as Bailey Allen, elder twin sister of Bartholemew "Barry" Allen.Things only get weirder from there.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Like it? Hate it? Tell me, or just leave a kudos. Or not. Your choice.
> 
> Title taken from Run Boy Run by Woodkid.

When one dies, their consciousness fades away, and essentially, their soul leaves their body. If souls even existed in the fist place, at least. Then, their body breaks down in some gruesome ways; the bacteria in their gut eats them from the inside out and... yeah it's pretty disgusting. I won't bother you with all that.

But the question I was going to answer(or, try to, at least) is; What happens to the soul when someone dies? There are many theories, of course. Heaven for Judgement, Nirvana, or reincarnation, for example. Now, the latter. It's a part of various religions around the world and is generally a form of recycled existence, where the soul inhabits various different bodies to either atone for their sins or their new body is  _because_ of what they may have done in their past life.

Not what happened to me. Not exactly, at least. For me, I was enveloped in a dark, warm place reviewing my memories from Before. Who I'd been and what I'd done doesn't matter anymore. All I knew was a constant  _thudthudthud_ of a heartbeat, and a softer heartbeat, closer to me. It was a peaceful existence while it lasted.

Now, I didn't know what was happening at the time. Call it a fugue state or some sort of... body amnesia. I was just really getting to know myself when the light suddenly erupted onto my senses and I was promptly shoved out into the world. I was reborn Bailey Allen, older twin sister to Bartholemew "Barry" Allen by about three minutes and forty-five seconds. Of course, I didn't know that at the time either. All I knew was confusion. Where was I? Why couldn't I control my body?

So, I made a decision. For a while, I let my instinct take over, hoping I'd learn enough of what was happening to me. My eyesight cleared up about twelve months in, and by that time, my body was crawling and babbling away like any other infant. On my and my twin's first birthday is when everything snapped into place.

I stared stupidly at my chubby hands and looked up into my twin's face. My first conscious thought was  _Fuck my life,_ because for one, I was a baby, and two, I was not dead, apparently. I was in so much trouble. I blinked at Barry, my  _twin,_ and let out a scream that had my parents running to me. I took a deep, shaky breath as Nora and Henry Allen, my new parents, checked me over, worry on their faces. I looked up at them with mild confusion and tried not to cry.

* * *

There were fewer outbursts of fear and terror after that, and my twin and I grew in fits and bursts. The first three years passed by in what seemed to be an instant, with Barry starting to chatter away like a bird. I talked less but tried to give my words more meaning. From a baby, it must have seemed adorable or even weird.

I made sure I didn't progress faster than Barry, but it was hard. English had been my first language, and although it was a little hard to read, though I didn't have to relearn it completely, I breezed past Barry in the language department, but even full, comprehending sentences were a little difficult to grasp.

When Barry and I finally turned four, we were already enrolled into the next class of pre-kindergarten. It was fairly awkward at first, considering I hardly remembered that far back, even Before, and I technically already knew all of this. But then we met Iris West.

Iris West was a little bit of a conundrum. All fire and stubbornness, but also passionate and giving, even at her age. I was a bit impressed, though I was hesitant to trust her. I had enough betrayal of friends from Before, although I  _knew_ she wouldn't do that. I watched as Barry nervously shook her hand, and I gave her a smile and offered her a seat next to us.

Friendship was born, although it was slightly rocky trying to fit Iris into our twin dynamic. I'd never had a twin Before, only siblings and I'd been the third-born child of five, not the firstborn. Barry liked to insist he was older, but both of our parents told us that I was, in fact, born first.

I glanced over at Barry, watching his sleep-gentle face. We shared a room, simply because the house was a little smaller because our parents had been expecting to only have one child, but then I'd showed up, unexpected and all but unannounced. Mostly chance that I'd been born first.

I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to sleep. Life could have been much harder.

* * *

It was about when we were six and just starting second grade when the bullying started. For Barry, it was mostly physical. For me, it was verbal. Before, I had been a constant target for bullying and grown used to it by now, for the most part. It still stung, but I could deal with it. Both boys and girls targeted me for a reason I wasn't sure of.

"Hey, ugly," a girl I didn't even know the name of said, during lunchtime. "Why you sittin' at  _our_ table?" I dully raised my head as I saw Barry flinch, and Iris, who was sitting with us, narrow her eyes. Anger and protective fury snarled through me for a moment before I managed to quiet it.

"It doesn't have your name on it," I replied to her as cooly as possible. "And last I checked,  _we_ sit here," I gestured to my twin and Iris. I didn't even turn around to give her a look. She didn't deserve even that. I heard the girl snarl and then she yanked my hair.

She pulled my hair.

 _How juvenile,_ I thought blankly, turning around and just looked at her. "Leave us alone," I told her flatly. "We did  _nothing_ to wrong you. So leave," By now, a familiar heat was flaring up in my chest. The girl, a smirk on her face and two of her posse flanking her, crossed her arms.

"Make me," she hissed, green eyes burning. I raised a brow and pointed to the other end of the table.

"Just sit over there," I suggested. "It's the same table,  _and_ we will be far enough away from each other," The girl scrutinized me, then humphed and threw a strand of black hair behind her shoulder.

"Fine," she replied. "I  _suppose_ we have a deal," I graced her with a smile and sat back down as she and her two friends sat at the other end.

"That was cool," Iris murmured, smiling at me. I felt myself redden as Barry looked at me with starry eyes. I attempted to melt into the table as I shifted in my seat.

"It was nothing," I whispered. "You would have done the same," Iris let out a rather unladylike snort, leaning on her elbows and struck up a conversation in quiet tones.

I watched the two chat almost mindlessly and felt the smile on my face sadden.

It would be a long five years.


	2. Chapter 2

The years went by in a seeming blink, and before long Barry and I were eleven. For everyone except me, it was to celebrate a time before teenhood, but all I could think about was Barry's mother's murder.

Yes, she was my mother too, this time around. Biologically, at least. Nora Allen was what everyone wanted in a parent, and I liked her. But I did not think of her as my mother, so thinking her of Barry's was the next best thing.

It was sometime in March when I started to carefully try to remember the setting of the day of Nora's murder. It had been summer... or close to it. Barry had gotten beaten up the day before while coming home from school. I rubbed my forehead and let out a hefty sigh.

"What's wrong?" Barry asked curiously as he looped one arm through mine. I gave a tiny shrug as we reflexively began walking in the same rhythm.

"Just thinkin'," I replied. Suddenly, my twin paled and jerked as he turned his head. "Oh no," I muttered. The only people who could really do that to Barry was me, Iris... and Tony Woodward, who was in the sister fifth-grade class.

"Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly before breaking away from me and making a run for it. I shook my head and followed after as the bullies began to run up behind him. One tackled Barry as I scooped up a handful of gravel.

I threw said gravel when Tony punched Barry, leaving a mottled bruise across his cheek. "Get away from my brother!" I snapped, marching towards them. The two 'weaker' boys turned tail and ran, and Barry took the opportunity to punch Tony back.

"I'll be back!" The boy snarled as he turned and ran after his... friends? Did bullies even _have_  friends or just followers? I helped up my twin and looped an arm over his shoulder.

"You okay?" I asked, patting his back. Barry nodded slightly, though I could see tears welling up in his eyes. Reflexive or otherwise, I wasn't sure. "Let's go home," I murmured and continued to walk down the street.

Later, I was sitting at the table doing my homework as Nora pressed a band-aid to a small cut on my twin's cheek. It was getting dark soon, and I had a bad feeling about tonight. In most cases, I was right.

* * *

I was shaken awake by Barry, whose pale face was illuminated by the moonlight. "Wassit?" I mumbled tiredly, rubbing my eyes.

"Something's wrong," he whispered, eyes glued to the aquarium between the beds. At first, I thought I was just seeing things, but then I realized that the water was floating. I felt vaguely sick as I stood and slunk downstairs with my twin.

I stared in horror as Nora Allen was surrounded by red and yellow lightning. "Mom!" Barry shouted, making for her.

"Stay back!" Nora warned as I pulled Barry towards me harder than I should've and nearly knocked the both of us backward. Henry clambered down the stairs and looked onwards in shock as he immediately put himself between the lightning. I saw a man in yellow jump towards us, or rather, Barry.

But then we were whisked away to a street I recognized and Barry spun around three-sixty, eyes wide with panic. "We're three blocks away," I told him and began to walk in the direction of the house, tired and shaky. All I wanted to do was sleep for a week.

Barry sniffled and almost tripped in his haste to follow me.

When we arrived at the house, the police were already there. I saw Henry being arrested by a couple of officers I didn't recognize. "Don't go in," he told us, face sorrowful. "Kids, don't go in,"

Barry went in anyway, and I followed him as he sprinted inside. I watched him pull back the covering, showing his mother. My twin burst into tears and I moved to hold him.

"'S'okay, Barry," I mumbled into his hair. "'S gonna be okay," With that, the peaceful prologue of this life ended.

* * *

The months winked by as we assimilated into the West household. Barry time and again tried to go see Henry, while I seemingly spontaneously developed nightmares, leaving me constantly tired and barely functional. This body wasn't used to not sleeping like my previous one had been.

I rubbed my eyes as I looked over at Barry, who seemed less angry all the time. "You talk to Joe?" I asked, shuffling in my seat. He glanced up at me and mumbled something under his breath that sounded vaguely like /yeah/.

I gave him a tired little smirk and held my aching head in my hands. I was having nightmares about lightning, now. Some of it was red lightning, which I remembered to be the Reverse-Flash's color, and other times it was normal, pale blue purplish lightning.

"I'm gonna try to sleep some more," I mumbled, standing and walking upstairs, nearly tripping up the stairs. I walked down the hall to Barry and my shared bedroom, creeping inside. I collapsed on my bed, crawling under the covers. I pulled the blanket over my head and tried to sleep.

It did not come easily, and I ended up pacing while Barry fell asleep before feeling comfortable enough to try and sleep. This time, I guess I was so tired that my brain just gave up on dreams and nightmares.

* * *

 

When Barry and I turned twelve, my twin went to a reptile camp for the summer. I didn't find anything very interesting, though I did start looking into the passion of mine from Before; art.

Art didn't need words, although writing could be argued to be a sort of art. I worked on my sketching, and it was not as easy as it would seem. Muscle memory had gone to crap, though I could still remember how my style had been Before.

I glanced over at the clock, trying not to tap my foot impatiently. It was a new tic that I shared with Barry, and I tried to suppress it as I drew anything that came to mind.

I let out a sigh as I sat up and put the sketchbook away. A part of me was still mourning for all the family members I'd lost, regardless of if it was Before or Now. Even if I didn't call her my mother, I missed Nora.

There was a knock on the door, and I almost instantly knew who it was. I jumped up and opened the door, smiling at Barry. "Heya!" I greeted him as he walked inside. He shot me a grin as he pulled off his hat and shoved it into his bag.

"Hiya," he replied as I flung myself at him. Joe loomed in the doorway, looking incredibly amused at our reunion. "How's it been without me?" Barry asked me teasingly as I smirked lightly.

"It's been great," I said jokingly. "Glad you're back, though," I whispered softly, not wanting to let him go.

"I'm glad I'm back, too," my twin mumbled in my ear. "Missed you," But he hadn't needed to say that. I already had known he missed me; through the 'twin bond' or whatever it was called.

I smiled sadly into his collarbone and wished this hug would never end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crappy chapter is crappy.


End file.
